I'm not sure where or when I first heard or read the phrase, "There's a last time for everything," but it was sometime during 2013; and for some reason, it struck a nerve and I think about those words frequently. Google them and you discover the title of a song written in 2009 by Deborah Allen and Curtis Wright. They're also the name of an album by someone named Lucy Wainwright Roche.

Recently, my wife Mary and I saw Tom Rush play his annual concert at Symphony Hall in Boston, Mass. Hard to believe he's in his early 70s as you watch and listen, but as he sang Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game," I thought about the "last time" phrase again.

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Perhaps my thoughts keep returning to the phrase because I just had another birthday (thankfully). But in mid-September, our son-in-law's father was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and five weeks later, he was gone. In his late 70s, he easily could have passed for a man 20 years younger. Two weeks before the diagnosis, he was flying his grandsons over the Virginia countryside in his beloved Cessna. He swam several miles every day. But in the blink of an eye, he was gone from us. How many "last times" did he experience in 2013 that none of us knew about? How many "last times" will each of us and our prospects and clients experience in 2014?

A couple of weeks after his death, a new life entered our family — Hanalei Kallas-Bellinger. Sitting at our Thanksgiving table, we toasted the life and passing of our dear friend and family member, Harrison, while celebrating the birth of little Hana.

Round and round we go in the circle game.

Whether we realize it or not, we are blessed to be in the only business in the world that has the power to ease the pain of the "last time."
When my Google search found the song, "There's A Last Time for Everything," I read the lyrics. I challenge you to find words that better express the power of what we do:

There's a last time for everything
A tomorrow that never comes
A moment you never dreamed
Could leave so many dreams undone
One thing in life is certain
It's not as certain as it seems
So while there's blue sky above you
Take the time to say "I love you"
'Cause there's a last time for everything.

Dr. Wyatt Woodsmall, President of Advanced Behavioral Modeling, Inc., states, "When we can articulate the needs, desires, challenges, fears and aspirations of the other person (your prospect or client) better than they can to themselves, you have passed the tipping point of becoming that person's trusted advisor. Then, all you have to do is continue adding value to the relationship..."

Everything counts, and there's a last time for everything. Carry your message forward into 2014. Your professional knowledge and experience, and the products and solutions you sell, alone have the power to ease the pain of the "last time."

About the Author

John Bellinger has been in the financial services industry since 1981 when he began as a career agent with The New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Boston, MA. Like other career agents, John's early years focused on establishing relationships of trust and confidence with families and individ... More